Platt finishes outdoor classroom

MILFORD  Learning about biology and other natural sciences has taken on a whole new meaning at Platt Regional Vocational-Technical School.

Luther Turmelle

Published 12:00 am, Friday, October 17, 2003

Thats because student carpenters are putting the finishing touches on a new outdoor "classroom" that took more than two years to build. The classroom consists of a 650-foot boardwalk that winds through a wetlands on the northern edge of the Platt campus, adjacent to Kozlowski Drive.

"You feel like youre out in the middle of a jungle, even though youre only 75 feet from the road," said Andy Kosch, a Platt biology teacher.

School officials will hold a grand opening of the classroom at the end of the month, said Gene LaPorta, Platts director. But a freshman biology class took advantage of Thursdays brilliant fall weather to spend time there.

The project required Platt officials to work closely with state and federal agencies because it is in wetlands, LaPorta said.

"We had to make the entire thing environmentally friendly, he said. The school has worked closely with the state Department of Environmental Protection to determine what plants and animals are in the wetlands, LaPorta said.

The direction of the boardwalk was dictated by environmental preservation concerns, school officials said. In some cases, unique bushes and shrubs were moved.

Creating the outdoor classroom involved several disciplines, LaPorta said. Students had to build the boardwalk under unique conditions and learned how local, state and federal permit processes worked, he said.

The genesis for the outdoor classroom, LaPorta said, was an $8,000 grant from consumer products giant Unilever in 1999-2000.

But school officials underestimated the complexity and cost of the project and funds were drying up about two years later. Determined to finish the project, LaPorta said he went to Platt Parent-Faculty Organization, which raised more than $6,000 to finish the job.

The outdoor classroom would have easily cost more than $100,000 if Platt had hired a private contractor to do the work, said Roger OToole, the schools carpentry department head who supervised construction.

Working in a wetlands presented unique learning opportunities for students, OToole said "For starters, I had to go out and buy 24 pairs of hip waders for my students," he said.

But sometimes, even the hip waders werent enough, so OToole and his crew stood on boards from old bleachers at the school while they worked.

Student workers also had to drive 400 pilings into the wetlands to support the boardwalk, he said.

Because they were working in a wetlands, crews couldnt use electric-powered tools. Initially, the work was done with hand tools and later, pneumatic tools powered by compressed air were used, OToole said.

Mark Sternemann, a junior from Milford, said he has enjoyed working on the outdoor classroom.

"It was definitely different than what were used to," Sternemann said. "And it was a lot better than sitting in class."